Last week, as an excited Malaysian, I switched on to the only Olympic event that mattered – track cycling.
Many months before the Paris Olympics started, I knew well that this was the only event in which Malaysia had a genuine chance of bagging our first Olympic gold medal.
I’m sorry if you thought that badminton would be the one to win the country’s first gold. Since Datuk Lee Chong Wei, we have yet to have anyone else masterful enough to reach the finals of the Olympics.
But we continue to send our athletes anyway, because we might get lucky.
Now, of course, not only would a gold medal justify the millions of taxpayers’ money spent on the Road To Gold, and Podium Programmes, but it would also reinstate the people’s trust and love for the Youth and Sports Minister, Hannah Yeoh.
Unfortunately, the plan was shattered to pieces as soon as it started. Datuk Azizulhasni Awang, who was touted to win the keirin event, was disqualified for a false start. Azizulhasni and his coach, John Beasley, explained the situation, but the race commissioners decided not to use their discretion, which plainly killed the hopes of Azizulhasni and millions of Malaysians over a technical blunder.
To be frank, Azizulhasni did commit the offence. It was noticeably a false start.
However, there is circumstantial evidence suggesting that the offence was committed due to his attempt to avoid an accident with the much more aggressive French cyclist.
Now, call me a wuss if you like, but I would have chickened out from the very beginning if I were put on a skinny bicycle speeding at more than 37mph, or in English, 60kph. At that speed, you’re covering 17 metres per second, and with five other riders inches from you, a mere sneeze and wham, your head could slam onto the floor, even bleeding.
We’ve all seen the video footage. All of a sudden, Azizulhasni was pushed away from his track, causing a loud gasp from the spectators at the velodrome. His attempt to avoid the collision forced him to swerve to his right, which accidentally caused him to overtake the derny, resulting in a false start.
At the Rio Olympics in 2016, the race was restarted twice. British cyclist Sir Jason Kenny won the gold that year.
You may have also seen footage of the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, during the keirin finals, where Kenny made a deliberate charge and plainly overtook the derny, which should have been called a false start. But no. The commissioners must have been in a comatose state, and the race continued as usual. Azizulhasni won the silver medal that year, while Kenny defended his gold medal.
This year, following the change in rules after the Rio fiasco, the commissioners conveniently decided to go strictly by the book on Azizulhasni, despite the incident being circumstantial rather than deliberate. This has raised eyebrows and sparked chatter that Azizulhasni was simply discriminated against.
For people of colour in France, selective prosecution and discrimination are nothing new. A survey conducted by the independent research company IPSOS on immigrant communities in France reported that 91% of respondents said there is discrimination in many areas of their lives.
The claim is that they are exposed to discrimination daily. In football, the latest outbreak of the 30-year war between the French football team and the far-right was sparked by Marcus Thuram. The striker said, “We were all shocked” when the players heard about the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) success in the European elections on June 9.
Most players in the squad are of immigrant descent, and the RN opposes immigration. Captain of Les Bleus, Kylian Mbappé, was only slightly more cautious. Without naming the RN, he said he “shared the same values as Marcus,” was “against extremes,” and warned, “I hope I’ll still be proud to wear this shirt. I don’t want to represent a country that doesn’t correspond to our values.”
Racism and intolerance are on the rise in Europe. Instead of being a platform that flushes out these salivating Nazis, the Olympics seem to be a place where they breed.
Main image: Olympic Council of Malaysia
The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the writer and do not necessarily represent that of Twentytwo13.
